Semiconductor manufacturing process modules

Abstract

A system for processing semiconductor wafers including a plurality of robotic facilities serially joined to each other to form a substantially linear transport chamber through which wafers can be transferred from each facility, wherein the substantially linear transport chamber is sealed to hold a controlled atmosphere and each of the plurality of robotic facilities includes at least one scara robot having three arm links serially coupled to one another and having a substrate holder rotatably coupled at a distal end of the three arm links, the plurality of robot facilities being configured to effect the transfer of wafers through the substantially linear transport chamber via handoff a wafer between neighboring scara robots, and a multi-entry process module coupled to at least one of the plurality of robotic facilities, where each entry of the multi-entry process module is accessed by the at least one of the at least one scara robot.

1. A method for processing semiconductor wafers comprising:
 providing a plurality of robotic handling facilities serially joined to each other to form a substantially linear transport chamber through which wafers can be transferred from each robotic handling facility, the substantially linear transport chamber being sealed to hold a controlled atmosphere and configured so that the transfer of wafers is effected via handoff of a wafer between neighboring robotic handling facilities, wherein at least a portion of the plurality of robotic handling facilities include an interior accessible through a plurality of entrances, each of the plurality of robotic handling facilities including at least one scara arm having three arm links serially coupled to one another, the three arm links being rotatable about a shoulder at a proximate end and having a substrate holder rotatably coupled at a distal end of the three arm links; and 
 providing a multi-entry process module coupled to at least one of the plurality of robotic facilities, where each entry of the multi-entry process module is accessed by at least one of the at least one scara arm. 
 
     
     
       2. The method of  claim 1  further comprising:
 disposing a plurality of sensors in the interior so that each sensor can detect a presence of the wafer at a predetermined location within the interior, wherein two sensors are disposed for each one of the plurality of entrances; and 
 detecting the wafer at any position entirely within the interior by at least two of the plurality of sensors. 
 
     
     
       3. The method of  claim 2 , further including configuring the plurality of robotic handling facilities to facilitate sequential processing of a workpiece by a first robot handing off the workpiece to a second robot between two sequential processes. 
     
     
       4. The method of  claim 2 , wherein a robotic handling facility includes a plurality of modular interfaces that each supports connection to compatible modules to extend a vacuum environment formed by the modules. 
     
     
       5. The method of  claim 2 , further including moving the at least one scara arm over at least one of the plurality of sensors to detect a sensor-relative position of an end effector assembled to the at least one scara arm. 
     
     
       6. The method of  claim 2 , further including detecting an orientation of the workpiece to ensure a placement of the workpiece complies with an alignment requirement. 
     
     
       7. The method of  claim 2 , further including providing a module connected to the semiconductor handling system that includes wafer storage features that are accessible by at least one robotic handling facility. 
     
     
       8. The method of  claim 2 , wherein the at least one scara arm includes at least two scara arms in at least two wafer processing planes in the semiconductor handling system, the at least two scara arms being capable of handing workpieces between the at least two planes. 
     
     
       9. The method of  claim 2 , further comprising providing at least two different wafer processing modules for performing a process, the process selected from a list consisting of chemical vapor deposition, physical vapor deposition, etching, plasma processing, lithography, plating, cleaning, and spin coating. 
     
     
       10. A system for processing semiconductor wafers comprising:
 a plurality of robotic handling facilities serially joined to each other to form a substantially linear transport chamber through which wafers can be transferred from each facility, wherein the substantially linear transport chamber is sealed to hold a controlled atmosphere and each of the plurality of robotic handling facilities includes at least one scara robot for handling a wafer, each of the at least one scara robot having three arm links serially coupled to one another, the three arm links being rotatable about a shoulder at a proximate end and having a substrate holder rotatably coupled at a distal end of the three arm links, the plurality of robot handling facilities being configured to effect the transfer of wafers through the substantially linear transport chamber via handoff a wafer between neighboring scara robots, and wherein at least a portion of the plurality of robotic handling facilities include an interior accessible through a plurality of entrances; and 
 a multi-entry process module coupled to at least one of the plurality of robotic handling facilities, where each entry of the multi-entry process module is accessed by the at least one of the at least one scara robot. 
 
     
     
       11. The system of  claim 10 , further comprising:
 a plurality of sensors disposed in the interior with two sensors for each one of the plurality of entrances, each sensor being capable of detecting a presence of the wafer at a predetermined location within the interior, wherein the plurality of sensors are arranged so that at least two of the plurality of sensors detect the wafer for any position of the wafer entirely within the interior. 
 
     
     
       12. The system of  claim 11 , wherein the plurality of robotic handling facilities is configured to facilitate sequential processing of a workpiece by a first one of the at least one scara robot handing off the workpiece to a second one of the at least one scara robot between two sequential processes. 
     
     
       13. The system of  claim 11 , wherein the robotic handling facility includes a plurality of modular interfaces that each supports connection to compatible modules to extend a vacuum environment formed by the modules. 
     
     
       14. The system of  claim 11 , wherein an orientation of the workpiece is detected and the detected orientation is used to ensure a placement of the workpiece complies with an alignment requirement. 
     
     
       15. The system of  claim 11 , wherein at least one of the plurality of sensors detects a position of an end effector that is assembled to a robotic arm. 
     
     
       16. The system of  claim 11 , further including a module connected to the system for processing semiconductor wafers, the module including wafer storage features that are accessible by at least one robotic handling facility. 
     
     
       17. The system of  claim 11 , wherein the at least one scara robot includes at least two scara robots in at least two wafer processing planes, the robots capable of handing workpieces between the at least two planes. 
     
     
       18. The system of  claim 11 , wherein the system for processing semiconductor wafers includes at least two different wafer processing modules selected from a list consisting of standard width, double width, stretch width, sub chamber divided, batch process, double sided entry, and scanning electron microscope. 
     
     
       19. The system of  claim 10 , wherein the multi-entry process module includes at least two entries coupled to one of the plurality of robotic handling facilities where a corresponding one of the at least one scara robot is configured to access the at least two entries, the at least two entries being arranged in line along a transfer plane of a wafer through the a plurality of robotic facilities. 
     
     
       20. The system of  claim 19  wherein the corresponding one of the at least one scara robot is a single robot configured to access the at least to entries. 
     
     
       21. The system of  claim 10 , wherein multi-entry processing module includes an entry coupled to a first one of the plurality of robotic handling facilities and a second entry coupled to a second one of the plurality of robotic handling facilities. 
     
     
       22. The system of  claim 10 , wherein a buffer module is located between adjacent ones of the plurality of robotic handling facilities. 
     
     
       23. The system of  claim 10 , wherein the multi-entry process module is a multi-process module. 
     
     
       24. The system of  claim 10 , wherein each entry of the multi-entry process module is configured to provide access to a respective sub-chamber within the multi-entry process module. 
     
     
       25. The system of  claim 24 , wherein each entry of the multi-entry process module are angled with respect to one another. 
     
     
       26. The system of  claim 10 , wherein more than one multi-entry process module is coupled to at least one side of a respective one of the plurality of robotic handling facilities. 
     
     
       27. A method for processing semiconductor wafers comprising:
 providing a multi-plane vacuum workpiece handling environment including a plurality of robotic handling facilities, at least one of the plurality of robotic handling facilities being disposed on each of a plurality of handling planes so that a robotic handling facility in a first plane can transfer a wafer to a robotic handling facility in a second plane, where a portion of the plurality of robotic handling facilities includes an interior and a plurality of entrances, each of the plurality of robotic handling facilities includes at least one scara robot having three arm links serially coupled to one another, the three arm links being rotatable about a shoulder at a proximate end and having a substrate holder rotatably coupled at a distal end of the three arm links; and 
 providing a multi-entry process module coupled to at least one of the plurality of robotic handling facilities, where each entry of the multi-entry process module is accessed by the at least one scara robot. 
 
     
     
       28. The method of  claim 27 , further comprising:
 disposing a plurality of sensors in the interior so that each sensor can detect a presence of the wafer at a predetermined location within the interior, wherein two sensors are disposed for each one of the plurality of entrances; and 
 detecting the wafer at any position entirely within the interior by at least two of the plurality of sensors. 
 
     
     
       29. The method of  claim 28 , wherein at least one of a semiconductor processing module and a robotic handling facility can be added to the workpiece handling environment without reconfiguring existing modules. 
     
     
       30. The method of  claim 28 , wherein the plurality of robotic handling facilities is configured to facilitate sequential processing of a workpiece by a first one of the at least one scara robot handing off the workpiece to a second one of the at least one scara robot between two sequential processes. 
     
     
       31. The method of  claim 28 , further including providing a module connected to the system for processing semiconductor wafers, the module including wafer storage features that are accessible by at least one robotic handling facility.